Poor Knights Marine Reserve Trip

In August, Mike Smith from Ocean Hunter took a group of us up to the Poor Knights Marine Reserve for some diving. We had already postposed the trip once due to poor weather (my experience of the Poor Knights is always poor weather) and decided this time it had to go ahead. I seem to have this effect on the Poor Knights. I have attempted four times to spend weekends there and this was just my second day of diving! With the world plotting against us, we arrived in Tutkaka towing the boat only to have to return straight back to Whangarei in search of petrol for the boat.

Mike, who had just returned from a couple of weeks of glorious, warm, abundant spear-fishing in Tahiti decided to just be Captain Mike, a bit afraid of the cold water, diving without a speargun and probably the most convincing excuse was the new tattoo that adorned his upper thigh, incomplete due to the timing of his departing flight from Tahiti. We did manage to catch a glimpse although he became a bit shy about sharing.

My beautiful new Elios suit, that fitted so well and kept me toasty warm over summer let me down a little after the loss of about 6 kg (that’s what training does to me, I guess 10% of your body weight is significant when it comes to wetsuits). I should have known better and worn a vest but it was lost in a box somewhere with all my other worldly possessions. It was frustrating to have to get out and warm up regularly.

The first day, the weather was calm and overcast. The water was flat and the fish life swirled around us in abundance. We followed a rare surprise of a turtle. He came up and look straight into Phil’s lens. Perhaps he saw the reflection and though he’d found a friend. He must have been lost. I’m sure the Poor Knights is not warm enough for turtles.

After lunch and watching some big lively snapper swimming around under the boat, trevally jumping out of the water around us and a King Fish sniffing around, we headed into an enormous cave. There was nothing but us in the water but the light and visibility were spectacular. Poor Mike sat on the boat wondering what was so special down there in the darkness. The water was about 15m deep but you could see the ripples in the sandy bottom from the surface. I did not take my camera from the boat and have yet to see what photos came out of the cave, I’m sure they were pretty spectacular.

As the bad weather started to roll in towards us we found a sheltered area with lots of funs things to play with. There was a little cave that sucked in water and spat out air and another cave to ride through on the waves. We found an eel and nudibranch and the general fish life was still plentiful. The rain started and the water clouded over, and we headed for the shore, a little rougher than we’d started with.
The Bach was great. The outdoor shower was refreshing and we spent the evening in front of the fire, tired after a fun day in the sea. We had a great feast with dessert as Mike had neglected to inform us it was his birthday the day before.
The second day was not great. The weather had completely changed and the sea was stormy. All visibility was lost and the water had turned to soup. The boys had a quick dive on the local coast and managed to shoot one poor tiny fish which provided us each with no more than a couple of bite-sized portions each for lunch, but saw practically nothing. That was the night the snow came and we were all lucky to make it back home in time for work.

Blanket

A little while ago, while still staying at my parent’s place in Palmerston North, a brownie and her leader knocked at the door selling girl guide biscuits. It brought back a few memories and I really felt a great urge to invite them in to chat, but managed to overcome it and let them go on their way after just a quick snuggle with Minnow (my dog). Anyway, I was left feeling a little inspired.

You see, I spent over 10 years as an active member of the girl guides. I started as a brownie, then went to guides, rangers and finally I was a pippin leader. I tried to complete just about every badge on offer including Cheif commissioner’s and Queen’s guide awards, took part in a Gang Show, attended scores of camps plus ran my own and generally had a good time doing things I would not have had the opportunity for otherwise. It all fell apart when I started studying architecture as there really just was no time left over beyond work and study to put anything valuable back, but I did try with a couple of Pippin groups in Wellington for a while. When I moved to Wanaka I was unpacking boxes and found my campfire blanket. I have still picked up the odd patch from my travels and had three new ones from my latest trip ready to sew on. My blanket is a bit of a story of my life. I started it about 20 years ago when mum bought me a bare grey blanket for Christmas. I sewed on all my brownie interest badges in a brownie ring, which was really unbelievable foresight on my part as a 10 year old. This ring later formed a space for all my guiding badges. Mum helped a bit with sewing on some of the swimming ribbons I’d won using the sewing machine for the first two rows. The rest were entirely stitched by me, by hand about 15 years ago. I quickly ran out of space for the swimming ribbons and had to double up the rows. There are badges swapped with people I’ve met from around the world and some that I’ve picked up on holidays in strange and wonderful places. There are even ribbons from the concert band champs from when I played the clarinet at high school.

Now the biscuits have all been devoured but I’m still inspired to add to the blanket. I feel that the now large part of my life as a competitive freediver is under represented in the blanket. I’m currently looking to set up my own small freediving school here in Wanaka and I’m hoping to have some very personal badges made up and am keen to stitch one on very soon.

If anyone feels they would like to be represented on my blanket, or has a patch that might be relevant, please feel free to post it to me - I’d greatly appreciate it!

Update

It's been a while since I've found the time to update my blog I'm sorry. Life has been pretty chaotic since I arrived home from the Bahamas. I had a lot of things that needed tidying up before I left, as well as organising a couple of local pool competitions, plus I've been planning the big seven month world trip that I have now started. The blog has therefore taken a backseat for sometime unfortunately.

I'll post some things that should have been written some time ago and then update you on the current affairs.

Impressions of the Bahamas

I realised that I've only really talked about freediving in the Bahamas and not the place itself. Don't you wonder where my focus has been? I suppose I can only comment on Long Island, and only a small part of that too!

• the people are really friendly but speak with a very stange accent - I have to keep reminding myself that yes they are speaking english and no I don't have to talk slowly as they can understand me! They are also very honest - you store the car keys in the iginition and don't need to lock the door when you go out.
• the lifestyle is very relaxed.
• the weather is beautiful, however thi is the end of winter, so I imagine it gets pretty hot and muggy in summer
• the beaches are beautiful - soft golden sand, clear, warm water of all shades of blue
• driving is hilarious - people just stop in the middle of the road for a chat, back up if they miss something, driv in the middle or on the wrong side of the road, swerving to avoid pot holes, crabs, birds, etc.
• the stars at night are amazing. Have you ever considered how we can see so much further in the dark???
• there are too many roosters (well outside my bedroom window anyway)!

Orlando

Here are some pics from Orlando where I stayed with Rachel. Rachel is digging into her ribs with grat gusto.

Mikey, Rachel and Jeremy's son at brunch.

This is the Blue Springs were the Manatees reside, they obviously were hiding from us or are improving their breath hold times to more than 20 mins. I think they get a bit sedentary during the heat of the day.

I've arrived!

I finally made it to the destination! The flights were pretty adorous. I managed to sleep a fair amount on the plane from Auckland to LA. LAX is such a crappy airport. The building was pretty bad to begin with but really is not coping with all the new security regulations. I would have imagined that such an important gate to the outside wolrd would have been given a bit more consideration by the Americans. Impression of LA were pretty limited as I only managed to spend a few hours in the airport and we had a bit of cloud cover on departure. The foodcourt was disappointing to say the least, however the sunset was pretty fantastic – one of those sunsets that you can only witness from high in the air, where the horizon is incredibly rounded over the sea and the the sun has just disappeared from view. A strip of bright red set off against the dark blue ocean, gradually fading into orange, yellow and then into the blue sky with blackness over the plane. It felt a bit strange to see the sun going down only a few hours after awaking and having breakfast! We flew over Vegas in the dark. It looks quite small comparatively. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't make out any flashing lights, but you could definitely pick out the great glow of the strip. I had a couple of hours in Denver. Fronier airlines has just built a new terminal there. Nothing really exciting about it. I think the outside was a bit flasher, but I only caught a glimpse of it as we taxied in in the dark. There was only one “restaurant” in the food court open so I was forced against my will to experience true American fast food: McDonalds. I did have a salad, however I'm sure the nutritional value would not have been too dis-similar from a burger. On my fourth leg I tried again to sleep however was placed akwardly in the row of seating directly in front of the emergency exit where the seats did not recline. If you've ever tried sleeping bolt upright you'll realise that it's virtually impossible, even with a neck pillow. So after three hours of snoozing broken by the ding of the seatbelt light, the explanation of the ding over the loud speaker and the incessant sniffing of the man sitting next to me I arrived in Orlando to see the sun rise at about 5:30am. Rachel was there to collect me. She is 7 months pregnant. We drove back to her in-laws' house in Deltona, about an hours drive. We waited for the day to commence and then went for an American breakfast. The name of the restaurant escapes me, but for a mere $7 I was presented with not one but two rather huge plates of food plus a big dish of condiments, which included: bacon, ham, meat pattie, eggs, hash brown casserole, fried apples, a couple of biscuits (scones), grits, and some weird gravy stuff. Bits and pieces were quite nice. I do think that Rachel and I could have shared. We then went on a bit of a drive around and saw the local lake, and landscape. We stopped in at Blue Springs National Park and went seeking Manatees. Unfortunately they were all hiding from us, but we did see an alligator sunning itself on the opposite bank of the river. It was a very pretty walk. If I'd had my wetsuit I probably would have jumped in, but it's 21 degrees so I thought I'd pass at that moment in time, especially after seeing the alligator... We went back to the in-laws'. I couldn't keep my eyes open for the drive back. All three of us, Mikey included had an afternoon nap for a few hours, which I really needed. We then went out to “Bahama Breeze” restaurant for ribs. They were all a bit surprised when I easily polished off my plate full – they had already considered who would get to eat my left-overs the following day after I'd left. No such luck I'm sorry. Rachel and I partook in some virgin cocktails with a true desire to pop a little something more in them. Oh well, they tasted pretty good. I slept pretty well despite the nap and we got up at 6am for another early start back at the airport.
But all went pretty well with my flights until today. I got charged quite a lot as my fin bag was oversized, then they cut my padlocks off my bag. The next airline charged me for being over weight and made me check in my hand luggage, which they also charged me for. I missed a flight, but lucky managed to get on another, but of course had to pay for it again – hopefully my insurance will cover it. Then they forgot to put my fin bag in the aeroplane as had put it aside very conscientiously due to the fragile stickers all over it. Thankfully that was the last flight of the day so I don't have to really co-ordinate anything as they'll bring it through on the first flight tomorrow and I just have to pick it up. I also have all my gear here to do no-fins dives, so it shouldn't affect anything. Now I've arrived and everything is closed as it's still Good Friday so I have to bludge food and water off the other divers. No biggie though. At least I had a good, big local lunch in Nassau. Anyway, I'm off to parler francais with the French boys next door. I have the whole apartment for four to myself for another week until everyone arrives, so I figure I should get lots of work done. Evidently they've had pretty poor weather here and the blue hole is currently more like a black hole with a bit of swell on it, but it should still be warmer than at home! Hopefully it'll clear up in the next few days as the particles settle.

busy weeks

Emma finally left for London last week (although it feels like she only just came back from Japan). She was meant to be there when we were over there and was missed in Paris when Patti, Jeremy and Anna were there with us. She's leaving Shin behind to cycle around NZ. We went along to her leaving dinner/Shin's birthday last week. Here they are:

Minnow is just sooo cute that she needs to be shown off:

This weekend was pretty chaotic. There was a freediving comp here in Wellington, which I hadn't done enough training for (not quite sure why I bothered), considering we've only been home for three weeks. Everyone else did particularly well. Dave broke the Dynamics world record twice (I unfortunately didn't manage to see either). Kerian pulled out a 201m, which is pretty huge. Phil did 131m without fins. Guys did over 7 mins in statics. Ant got to 223, but shook a but much and unfortuneatly just lost it at the end. I did a 93m no fins and 111m with. I'm vaguely happy with the later as it was pretty easy, and I've only worn my fin about 4 times this year. For me it can only get better from here on in... The competition was held over three days, but after ten weeks away I decided not to bother asking for additional time off. I had a go at DNF on Friday night (never a good time for me) and DYN on Saturday morning. Kerian, Guy and Phil modelled their sexy suits for the camera.

We left the comp after my swim on Saturday morning and drove up to Palmerston North to see Elizabeth Quinn get married to Gareth Gibson, boyfriend of 8 years. Elizabeth and I attended all the same schools in PN so have known each other since we were 5. She's the one that the teachers used to get me mixed up with... It was great to catch up. I got home without as amny photos as usual. But I'm sure they'll put some of the good ones up on their wedding website soon. It was great to catch up with some other old friends from high school too (top photo is Elizabeth, Gareth and Dennis and Bev Quinn, lower one is bridesmaid Nadine Fletcher, from high school).

We went back to Wellington to catch the final Sunday afternoon session of the competition and the prizegiving. I didn't compete due to lack of training and a good evening out the night before. Jude made some beautiful medals for us (Thanks Jude!). Guy lost his clothes (stolen) so spent the rest of the evening in his rubber suit, drinking champagne. Is Dave really tall or is Kerian just really short - perhaps a little of both... What do you think of my blonde look? I'm just waiting for summer to catch up...

film event

I'm uncertain as to whether or not Pirates of the Caribbean lived up to everyone's expectations - perhaps that no-brainer is what we expected! It was however, rather entertaining, and I was pleased to see the freediving demonstration when the boat rolled upside down - must have been a good 45s breath hold after running around - fairly impressive... Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who came along for their support - it was hugely appreciated. It was great to have a quick catch up with people I haven't seen for ages and I must apologise if I didn't manage to get to talk to you. We raised about $1000 total.

Film event of the year

Two more days of sales, and I'm almost sold out! Thanks for the phenominal support guys. We went from wondering if we could fill one cinema to booking and almost filling two (120 seats total). The ticket sales will cover all the competition expenses (transfers, accomodation, hostel food, entry fees), which is so much more than I hoped for. Thanks. I have to warn you that I'm also going to try to sell you raffle tickets on the night. We've got yummy nibbles to make up for it though!

minnow's haircut

Patti visited

Yay, Patti came to visit us in Wellington from Wednesday last week until today. It was great to catch up again before she heads off to trip around Europe for the next six months (at least). Caught up with some people who we haven't seen for years: Dylan & Cameron. People came over for dinner on Saturday, then we all picked up and moved the party over a couple of blocks to Miriam's for her "21st" (making up for lost time) where we all lost our voices singing loudly to singstar. It was a pretty fun night for all.

Some familiar faces.

Easter weekend 07

Saturday marked the well anticipated arrival and installation of our new garage cupboard. It has been an overly extensive and challenging 18 month project untaken with my father in Palmerston North. We spent the weekend clearing out the junk from our spare room, so now our lucky future visitors will have floor space on which to put their bags, and the opportunity to get out of either side of the bed! The room looks quite deceptively large - finally. In addition, visitors will no longer have to battle their way through several layers of dive gear in order to bathe - total luxury.